High <i>K</i> Nanophase Zinc Oxide on Biomimetic Silicon Nanotip Array as Supercapacitors

A 3D trenched-structure metal–insulator–metal (MIM) nanocapacitor array with an ultrahigh equivalent planar capacitance (EPC) of ∼300 μF cm^–2 is demonstrated. Zinc oxide (ZnO) and aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃) bilayer dielectric is deposited on 1 μm high biomimetic silicon nanotip (SiNT) substrate using the atomic layer deposition method. The large EPC is achieved by utilizing the large surface area of the densely packed SiNT (∼5 × 10¹⁰ cm^–2) coated conformally with an ultrahigh dielectric constant of ZnO. The EPC value is 30 times higher than those previously reported in metal–insulator–metal or metal–insulator–semiconductor nanocapacitors using similar porosity dimensions of the support materials

The Effects of Fluorine-Contained Molecules on Improving the Polymer Solar Cell by Curing the Anomalous S‑Shaped <i>I</i>–<i>V</i> Curve

In this study, we investigate the effects of fluorinated poly­(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene):poly­(styrenesulfonate) buffer layer on the performance of polymer photovoltaic cells. We demonstrate for the first time, the deterioration of the device performance can be effectively mended by modifying the interface between the active layer and buffer layer with heptadecafluoro-1,1,2,2-tetra-hydro-decyl trimethoxysilane (PFDS) and perfluorononane. Device performance shows a substantial enhancement of short-circuit current from 7.90 to 9.39 mA/cm² and fill factor from 27% to 53%. The overall device efficiency was improved from 0.98% to 3.12% for PFDS modified device. The mechanism of S-shape curing is also discussed. In addition, the stability of modified devices shows significant improvement than those without modification. The efficiency of the modified devices retains about half (1.88%) of its initial efficiency (4.1%) after 30 d compared to the unmodified ones (0.61%), under air atmosphere